My Background

Hello! My name is Molly but I have also been know as “Auntie” since my first niece, Sara, was born in 1981. I had just turned 12 years old and I thought it was about the coolest thing ever to have such a title. Several years and several nieces and nephews (both blood related and chosen family) later, I still think it’s the coolest thing, right up there with being called mom. In fact, it’s for them I decided to start this blog – thus the somewhat kitschy name.

Food has been a prominent theme in my life story. There were many good cooks on my mom’s side of the family and on my dad’s side, cooking and eating were of utmost importance. My fondest early memories are set in my Grandma Ina’s tiny kitchen in Bend, freshly baked rolls on the table by the window and something delicious bubbling on the stove, and in my own family’s kitchen in Eugene, OR, baking cakes and cookies with my mom. When I was 8 years old, my dad realized his dream of opening a restaurant and that is where I spent my formative years. In the early years, I would spend evenings there eating soup and rolls, doing homework, honing my sarcasm skills with the bartenders, stealing chocolate from the bakery, and falling asleep on cushioned wicker chairs I would push together to make a bed. When I was a freshman in high school, I started making my grandma’s dinner rolls which were served with every meal and that was my job until I graduated and began baking all the desserts for the restaurant, as well as working the salad and sauté sections in the kitchen with my brother Billy, the chef. It was hard to say goodbye at the age of 24 when Bob and I moved on to our next chapter and even harder when the restaurant closed four years later. It was my childhood home as much as the house I grew up in. After several years in Illinois, we returned to Oregon, this time to Bend, where my dad grew up, and started our family. Having our girls has inspired me to cook most meals at home and has reignited my passion for cooking.

Since June, 2011, I’ve been posting cherished family recipes in order to preserve them for my nieces, nephews and my own girls. In the process I have found that what I really love is developing recipes of my own, focusing on wholesome, healthy ingredients. I also am passionate about providing detailed instruction to teach and demystify the cooking process for those who may tend to avoid the kitchen. In addition to my love of cooking, I also love to read and write about food and I also really enjoy taking photos so this blog has been a perfect creative outlet for me. I hope to continue to encourage and inspire home cooking because I truly believe it’s essential to our health and well being.

Clockwise from top left; my girls and nieces at Alicia’s bridal shower; nephews and nieces in the early 1990’s; me (with the bangs and scrunchy) in the Treehouse bakery; Steven and John with their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle underwear on their heads and Alicia; Bob and I with our girls, Ella and Hailey in beautiful Central Oregon.

Hello! I'm Molly, aka Auntie. I live in beautiful Bend, OR with my husband, twin girls, and our dogs, Scooter and Scout. I love to share cherished family recipes and develop recipes of my own, focusing on wholesome, healthy ingredients. I started this blog with the intention to teach my nieces and others to prepare meals on their own and demystify the process a bit. I hope to encourage and inspire home cooking because I truly believe it’s essential to our health and well-being.